SOCIAL MEDIA

Runner Up!

2.11.2007
I am SO excited! I entered a contest, (my FIRST!) over at Two Peas a couple weeks ago and I just found out tonight that I won runner up in the overall category, (got a gift cert. for supplies!!!) I cannot even tell you how thrilled I am at this...for so many reasons, one of them being that this contest was judged by none other than Ali Edwards! This is a girl who's work I admire so much, she is SUPER talented and her work always inspires. Wow, she looked at my stuff! That is very, very cool! :) And, probably most importantly winning runner up in this contest has given me a little boost personally...I have brief moments of wondering if spending time on this craft is silly, if it really matters, it seems that so many people tend to not "get it". The "why" of doing this thing called scrapbooking and I guess this just kind of reminded me that this means SO much to ME and that I should just go with that and see what happens. I'm pretty sure only good will come of it because it is being done out of love, my love for my family, my friends, my life, and the love of playing with art. Really feeling the love tonight! ;)
In addition to finding out that I won tonight I got an email from Wilna Furstenberg giving me a big congrats! She is the first online friend that I have made and wow, what a girl! She really can make a girl feel that it's okay to be proud! Thanks so much Wilna for your note of congrats, you really made me smile! Yay!
It's so funny, the other day Wilna mentioned on her blog that sometimes you're working on a page and you're reminded that "yeah, I can do this...this is good...I know how to scrapbook!" and she followed it up with this comment "if i can inspire ONE person to give God a chance, to be more creative, to laugh more, do more, pray more, read the Word more, be more devoted to their husbands, to have more patience with the kids, start to exercise, i will have a reason to live. you know why? because this is exactly what i am striving for everyday. this is what i want for myself. and one thing that i realized is that your harvest (that what you want) will be the place you want to sow the most seed. So, i want to inspire." She, Wilna has really been inspiring me as of late, thanks Wilna...and it's the funniest thing but when I was working on this page the sun was shining in on my art table, I was listening to some really funky children's folk music-humming along and Zoey was right next to me painting and the whole time I felt GOOD...really, really good, as though everything was aligned just right and things made sense and that I was happy where I was and totally engaged in the moment. Right there, right then and this is what became of it! SO happy and SO inspired! :)

And now for the goodies of the layout...it was to be a page that conveyed why you scrapbook. The journaling under the photo collage reads:

Why Do I Scrapbook? {the supplies}
One of my earliest, fondest memories as a little girl is walking into an art supply store with my Dad and looking in awe at all the colored paints, pencils, brushes, and papers. I remember the smell too...a very earthy, lovely smell always accompanied those visits. To this day I LOVE more than anything looking at different colored, patterned papers, looking at pencils and paints. I love picking out new supplies and bringing them home to sort and organize at my whim. I can't explain it really any better than a little child walking into a candy shop and being in heaven. I LOVE art supplies! I love making things with my hands. I love "exploring" different ways of using things. I love just sitting and thinking of what I could use my supplies for. I love the feeling I get when I'm in my "creative" frame of mind.

Why Do I Scrapbook? {to measure growth}
I love to see the many changes that occur throughout the passage of time to the ones I love, whether it is physical changes that can be seen in photographs, or the emotional changes that can be captured and remembered in my journaling or changes in my style of scrapping. I love the freedom that scrap booking allows for, the many allowances for change. Love that I can create something neat, organized and “together” one day and on another day I can go crazy and create something with wild colored paints, adding staples and stitching and that it is okay…I am allowed to grow and be myself on my pages, however I feel, on any given day.

Why Do I Scrapbook? {to tell our story}
Probably the biggest reason that I scrap is to be able to tell our story so that down the road somebody will know that we were here and this is the way we saw things, these were the things we were thinking, going through, exploring. I love documenting the little things like making Zoey Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast or that one of her favorite story books at the age of two was Corduroy the Bear. Now that I am an adult I see that those little things really end up being the big things in life. I’ve discovered that scrapbooking is an emotional outlet for me, photography let’s me capture moments that mean something to me and then I can journal about them, releasing something from within myself, it’s a form of therapy, a part of my own very personal story that someday someone will perhaps get a glimpse of…all because I scrapbook.

Oh...and to view the page on the Two Peas website you can click here! Have a GREAT night!

Aaron said...

Congratulations Jen! What a great feeling to be involved in something that just feels right. Keep it up!

Mrs Pretzel said...

OK. I have so many things to ask you! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me! oceanbookworm@yahoo.com. CONGRATULATIONS on your prize! Don't ever worry about whether your "art" is worth it. You don't have to be validated by anyone but YOU to be doing something worth while. For myself, I have found, that if for no other reason, photgraphy and Scrapbooking have purpose in my life because they have both made me stop and listen. Stop and Look. To see the little things. To APPRECIATE the little things. That is enough for me.

Now GO! Email me with your email address so I can ask you my LONG questions! LOL

rachel

~PS Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my cards! Are you wishing you HADN'T now!? :)

Leslie said...

Congrats! What a great layout!

Lee Ann said...

I was just wondering what music you were listening to? I always love to find new kids music that I like to.

Melissa said...

Jennifer, thanks for your comment on my site. I had the joy of perusing your blog. I really identify with your musings on life....and absolutely love your scrapbook work. You are one talented gal. You should send your work in for publication....if you haven't yet. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
Melissa